During the Wednesday evenings of Lent, read and discuss the ELCA draft social statement on Women and Justice (http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Social_Statement_DRAFT_on_Women_and_Justice.pdf?_ga=2.205520656.1476214806.1518464296-1391551907.1518464296)

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Month: February 2015

Once, a minister tried a different approach on Ash Wednesday. Instead of individually marking people with ashes, he slung a shovel full of Palm ashes at his surprised congregation. One parishioner was heard to remark in a whispered gasp “This is a terrible imposition.”

Sadly, more and more people either ignore Lent or regard this penitential season as an imposition. Yet, others take a more positive approach to Lent by subtracting things from their lives – losing 20 pounds, or giving up sweets and other pleasures hoping for some better version of themselves. Continue reading From the Pastor – March 2015

Our Midweek Lenten series “Tree of Life” will begin on Wednesday, February 25th and will take place at 7 pm each Wednesday evening through March 25th. “Many world religions use the image of the tree of life when depicting their central beliefs and values. For Christians, that tree of life is the cross.” (Sundays and Seasons, p.112, Augsburg Fortress)

Each week a scripture passage and a hymn will illumine the cross of Christ as our tree of life.

• February 25 – The tree of life in Eden is given, and then denied.
• March 4 – God will transform the low tree into the tree of life.
• March 11 – We hold fast to wisdom, as if it were the very tree of life.• March 18 – The mustard bush is a tree of life only in a hidden way.• March 25 – Love, joy, peace, patience… are fruits of the tree of life.

Welcome to our guests and visitors! All are welcome at communion who believe that Jesus is present in this meal. Please sign our guest book and let us know if you’d like to subscribe to our email newsletter notification.

City Reach Participation, Jan. 16-17th

SOV Middle and High School youth traveled into Boston to participate in a version of City Reach delayed from November 2014 to January 2015. They took with them over 70 bags of clothing donated by Shepherd of the Valley members and friends, enough clothing that every one of the 200 homeless people could receive double the amount they usually allow. Continue reading SOV Youth Participate in Boston – City Reach 2015

Thank you for your warm welcome upon my arrival last December along with last Sunday’s welcome potluck luncheon. I’m very grateful and appreciative. You are a kind, caring people and I thank God for all of you. I look forward to our time together as we work together to be God’s community of faith in Groton and surrounding towns.

As you may sense, I love to preach. On the days and weeks ahead I plan to preach on a variety of texts and topics. Here’s what to expect.

A Christian believer in the fourth century by the name of Gregory of Nazianzen observed that it is difficult to conceive of God, but that to define God in words is an impossibility. Gregory was not implying that the impossibility of the task means that we should not try. Rather, his words mean to suggest that the subject of theology is, in fact, a Subject. That is to say, Christian theology is the precarious act of peering into the light and glory of a Person. The great councils that gathered in antiquity, the list of faithful pilgrims in the book of Hebrews, men and women in history who have dared to do the work of theology—each of them, and any of us who consider it, are squinting at the mystery of light. Continue reading A Slice of Infinity – Squinting at Light